


Crown you now, with many crowns

by Ariasune



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Ancient Egypt, Drabble, Gen, One-Shot, Pre-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-29
Updated: 2017-07-29
Packaged: 2018-12-08 07:42:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11642040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ariasune/pseuds/Ariasune
Summary: Atem is not a Great King.





	Crown you now, with many crowns

For all his faults, Atem's people loved him. They wanted to love him, and so they loved him almost blindly, but - something Atem was keenly aware of - they wanted his father. Akhnakanem had led them out of the war, and into prosperity, and when they crowned Atem, sweat dribbling down his throat, they crowned him to peace.

He was no great speaker. Mahaad had often said Atem was personable solely, exclusively on a personal level, and when they crowned Atem, he had stared mutely at Mahaad from the precarious pedestal of the balcony. What had there been to say? You wanted my father here, and he is dead. I am Atem, son of Ra, son of Akhnakanem the Great, son of Peace, son of Prosperity, and I will have to do.

He was no great leader. Set as often obeyed as he corrected, politely, but so sharply, so finely. What had once been instructive, was becoming near-choking under the weight of the crown. Oh, but what a King Set would have made! What a leader! Atem would have followed Set's every word, would have followed each vision of light Set offered to him. Set could have led a shying horse through flooding water, and Atem had never thought of himself as shy.

He was no great economist. He was no great diplomat. He was no good for sciences, for religion, for writing, or for arts, and he was near  _brutal_ in law-making.

But Atem would have made a fine warrior. Everybody said it, everybody thought it. How brave Atem can be, how fierce he can be, how quick his thoughts, and how sharp his gifts. But he had been crowned in peace, and the kingdom had contracted, swollen and unstable in the wake of his father's victories. This neighbour demanded lands returned. This one sent hissing letters. And as always, a waiting weapon around Atem's throat, daring him to use it.

What a ka Atem would have, what a beast he would command, everybody said, and whoever, whatever that ka-beast was, it slept still in Atem's heart for a long time.

Atem was not a great warrior; unwilling to slake trouble with blood, but the God-Pyramid was a cold, angry thing hanging about his neck. It was heavy with blood, Atem thought sometimes, wondered quietly. He would touch the heel of his hand against its side, listen to its vicious whispers, and ask himself just what it was he'd been armed with, and question what his father had conquered.

No, Atem was not a great ruler, and in a way, he was glad of the spell. He had bid his ka-beasts free, and set them loose upon the Thief King. Upon a heaving, groaning pile of corpses, Atem had heaped more. He had declared war, answered tooth for claw, and filled the already full cup of blood his father had drawn for him. Atem was crowned to peace, and was loved for battle, and in a way, he was glad they would not remember him for it.

That when Mahaad was buried, Mana would not talk of the heavy scream of Ra's Dragon. She would not bless, and thank the shearing metal tseer of a wronged deity.

That when Set led the Kingdom into the light, he would not think of the sand turning to glass beneath Obelisk's footsteps. He would not be guided by the implacable dread, and violence of an angered king.

Perhaps it was selfish to hope that when they buried him, they would bury the blood-red god that had poured from his soul. Bury it out of sight, out of mind, and out of memory. At last, he hoped, at peace.

**Author's Note:**

> Please hear a podcast recording of this fic [here](https://asherelric.podbean.com/e/yu-gi-oh-ep-2-crown-you-now-with-many-crowns-by-ariasune/) by the amazing [dangerouslypleasantdueling](http://dangerouslypleasantdueling.tumblr.com)


End file.
